Lin McAdam (
James Stewart) and his friend High-Spade (
Millard Mitchell) arrive in Dodge City for a shooting contest, in which the prize is a perfectly manufactured Winchester repeating rifle, referred to as "One of a Thousand" -- a gun so fine that Winchester won't sell it. Lin runs across Dutch Henry Brown (
Stephen McNally) in a saloon and the two would kill each other right there but for the fact that town marshal Wyatt Earp (
Will Geer) has everyone's guns. Lin wins the rifle in an extraordinary marksmanship match-up with Brown, but the latter steals the prize from him and sets out across the desert. Thus begins a battle of wits and nerves, and a pursuit to the death. The roots and raw psychological dimensions of that chase are only exposed gradually, across a story arc that includes references to Custer's Last Stand, run-ins with marauding Indians, a heroic stand with a a shady but well-intentioned grifter (
Charles Drake), and a meeting with murderous sociopath named Waco Johnny Dean (
Dan Duryea), plus a romantic encounter with a young, golden-hearted frontier woman (
Shelley Winters). All of these story lines eventually get drawn together neatly and gracefully by director
Anthony Mann, who balances the violence of the events with a lyrical, almost poetic visual language. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide